by Joan Kent | Apr 20, 2015 | Best Practices, Engage Your Students, Health and Wellness, Promote and Build Your Class, Your Fitness Business
Do you have an elevator pitch? Mine has changed several times — all necessary. But this post is actually about the emotions that sugar generates.
I began with a standard 30-second elevator pitch. Remember that version? It was the original length years ago, but now almost nobody will listen that long.
I shortened mine to 15 seconds.
Yet people went glassy-eyed when I said “psychoactive nutrition,” even though I immediately defined it as “how foods affect brain chemistry.”[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Still, brain chemistry interested them, so I changed the pitch again. I started with ‘food and brain chemistry’ and left out ‘psychoactive nutrition.’
Then I heard great recommendations from speakers and marketing pros on the perfect pitch:
– Don’t explain your process, just the results.
– Keep it short.
– Avoid big words.
– Start with a question.
All sounded like good ideas. I re-crafted my pitch with a starting question and shortened it again — this time to 10 seconds.
“You know how people have diabetes, high blood pressure, or other medical problems they can’t fix because they’re stuck on sugar? Well, I help people conquer sugar addiction so they can transform their health and feel great.”
I could never finish it. Everyone would interrupt by the time I said “high blood pressure…”
“My father has both, and high cholesterol. What should he do?”
“My mother’s diabetic. Are you a doctor?”
One woman told me, “The second part interested me, but the first part didn’t.”
(Ironically enough, when I asked what she did, her answer took 45 complicated, boring seconds. I didn’t have the heart to challenge her critique of my 10-second pitch when hers was a remedy for insomnia. But I digress.)
I changed my pitch again and dropped the opening question.
“I help people conquer sugar addiction, so they can transform their health, feel better, lose their mood swings, and gain control of their eating.”
It’s 6 seconds long. And I can’t make it through the 6 seconds without being interrupted, right after ‘sugar addiction’:
“Oh, that’s so important!”
“That’s a big deal right now. Everyone’s addicted to sugar.”
“My daughter is addicted to sugar; it’s all she eats.”
“Sugar is more addictive than heroin. Don’t you agree?”
“Do you really believe it’s possible to be addicted to sugar?”
So — and I already knew this — it’s an emotional topic. If I can’t even get through a 6-second sentence, something is charging people up enough that they must speak then and there.
In past presentations, people have glowered at me when I’ve talked about the health problems linked with the granulated white stuff.
A man walked out during one talk because I answered his question that, yes, fruit is sugar.
While I was still working on my doctorate, fat was the go-to dietary demon. In a lecture I gave to fitness pros, I was discussing sugar as a factor in health issues. “I have the same degree you do,” an angry woman shouted [we had master’s degrees in exercise physiology], “and you don’t know what you’re talking about!”
With all of these food-related emotions, this past weekend was such a relief. A real estate agent asked what I do.
He gave me the full 6 seconds to finish my sentence and questioned, “Is there a market for that?”[/wlm_private]
by John | Apr 19, 2015 | Best Practices, Instructor Training, Your Fitness Business
Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em, there's no denying that SoulCycle is enormously successful and a driving force that's responsible for much of the excitement our industry. I visited SoulCycle last fall and participated in a few classes. The purpose was to accurately report on this juggernaut of Indoor Cycling.
The bottom line IMO, SoulCycle get's it. They understand their target market precisely – everything they do is directed at female non-cyclists who ride at SoulCycle multiple times a week.
More importantly, these non-cyclist ride year-round!
SoulCycle also understands that their Instructors are what make them so successful. Now that I was able to find and then download, the new SoulCycle iPhone App, it's abundantly clear that promoting each Instructor is the main focus of the App. Not only are they featuring Instructors, they've also added links to the favorite music each Instructor plays in class. Check out the bio page for “Stacey” who I just choose at random >
Each of those album thumbnails link to a sample in iTunes. Why not Spotify? Good question. My guess: everyone with an iPhone can play those tracks. Not everyone (yet) has Spotify. I also wouldn't be surprised if SoulCycle has an advertising agreement with Apple = they might be generating some ad $$$ every time a customer views an Instructor bio.
by John | Apr 17, 2015 | Best Practices, Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, Music, Training With Power
Threshold Zombies > what a concept!
Ever construct the perfect threshold interval? Where everyone appears to be controlled by the music, hammering away as if they've lost connection with everything and anything beyond the pursuit of Zone 4?
THRESHOLD! THRESHOLD! NEED MORE THRESHOLD!
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
The only way to satiate their lust for Threshold based effort is a proper warm up, a few openers and then an awesome song that's the right combination of intensity and BPM. In my book, the music genre that will feed your Threshold Zombies best is Drum & Bass. Easy to follow, D&B music tends to communicate high 80's to 90's RPM. Here's a few for you to try.
Oh, and please turn-it-up. Zombies like it loud!
Download link
Here's the link to download if the option isn't showing above.
You'll need to be brave, or have a room full of Threshold Zombies that you love controlling, to use this one 🙂
Just don't turn your back on them… [/wlm_private]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
by John | Apr 12, 2015 | Best Practices, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, New Instructor 101
I received more responses to the frustration originally expressed by new Instructor Irene in this post; Hey Team > How Would You Answer This Question?
What I find to be the single biggest challenge as a new instructor is music- music flow, and knowing what drills or activities to do to what music.
I feel at such a loss though when it comes to setting up a class…. And feel as though I let hours of time evaporate listening to music but not knowing how to incorporate it effectively into what I am doing….
Instructor and ICI/PRO contributor Krista Leopold – AKA GroupFitPower over at Pedal-On.com – offers this:
Hey John!
I don't know if it is too late, but I thought I'd throw in my couple of cents on this one.
Starting out, the music was overwhelming for me too. I thought I had a great library of music and so many ideas, but when I finally switched from being the rider to the instructor, suddenly I felt like I didn't know what I was doing! That's when I started tagging my music. I use a program called MediaMonkey, but there are a million ways this can be done – playlists, excel spreadsheets, notebooks. Start jotting down the songs you hear that when you hear them you think, “that would be a great song for…” I have lists of warm ups, cool downs, heavy climbs, fast flats, different emotions, song tempos and everything in between. Then, when I know what I want to do in class, I have a go-to list of songs to pick from. However, know that having a nice long list takes a while to come together, so you'll need to be patient as you develop your ear and the songs start trickling in. In the meantime, I encourage you to play other people's music and teach other people's profiles. You might be surprised how a song you don't think you like is actually amazing for what the creator chose to use it for in the profile. You can find great profiles here on ICI/PRO, or over at pedal-on. You can find lists like the one I described over at Spotify. The links are posted in a Pedal-On thread here: http://www.pedal-on.com/showthread.php?12446-Pedal-On-Collaborative-Spotify-Playlists. Don't be afraid to play songs chosen by other people. This is the single best way to find more music. It will open up genres to you, expose you to new artists and truly give you more music and ideas than you can possibly use! Good luck!
Hope all is well with you, John!
Krista
Endurance Coach and Stages Indoor Cycling Master Instructor Dennis Mellon adds:
John, let me know if this is what you are looking for.
Class Flow:
I believe the best way to insure class flow is with good class preparation. I also feel that class profile should come before music. A great profile can carry mediocre music but a great music cannot carry a mediocre profile. I would suggest putting together a class profile that supports your club’s training or class schedule program with a proper warm up, drills, sets with appropriate work to rest ratios, cool down and stretch, then add music that you feel works best with each segment. I think most instructors put too much emphasis on finding the perfect song for each and every segment of class. I only focus on the actual music for 2-3 songs per class then I use it to control the energy and/or motivate during the tougher segments of class.
I have posted a number of “The Power of 3” song sets on the ICI/PRO website that include music, set profiles, video and recordings of me teaching these sets during an actual class, these may help you “find the flow” you are looking for.
These are great suggestions Krista and Dennis > I'd like to add…
Irene, there was a time when most, if not all, of us have had difficulty with (to use your words) music- music flow, and knowing what drills or activities to do to what music. After 17+ years, and thousands of classes, this has become second nature. I'm thinking I should add your question to the list of things I struggled with as a new Instructor and have now forgotten, it was so long ago.
Wow… I just found the world's first 5% flat road.
Indoor Cycling has IMO too many “rules” that I feel constrain new Instructors and create frustrations similar to what you've expressed. Take for example the “rule” that; “X” cadence = “Y” terrain – i.e. 60RPM is a Climb, 90RPM is a Flat, etc… Rubbish. Yesterday I was riding outdoors. Looking down at my Garmin bike computer on a long, seated, threshold intensity climb, I saw that my cadence was hovering around 90RPM. Wait, that's completely wrong… isn't it? I am climbing a hill with a 5% grade, shouldn't I be peddling slower?
My point is that there are songs that, independent of their BPM, communicate something you can follow. By “follow” I mean responding in a way that feels natural to you – what could also be described as improvising. Hearing those “cues” contained in a particular piece of music, and then acting on them, is something you might need to learn. And for most people that requires, 1] practice and 2] developing the confidence to go whatever the music leads you.
Yesterday I shared a 40 minute mashup as the Free Friday music. Twenty three different tracks, of all different BPM's and intensities, professionally joined together that I feel would make a great practice session for you to practice your improvisational skills.
by John | Apr 10, 2015 | Best Practices, Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, Music
Improvisation in theatre, comedy or Indoor Cycling is an art that can be improved through trial and practice. Learning to improvise is an important skill that will improve your class presentation and make you a more entertaining Instructor. Disappointedly, I'm just now realizing that we haven't spent much time educating our ICI/PRO members on this important skill.
One of my all-time favorite TV shows was Whose Line Is It Anyway? – In each unscripted episode a troupe of comedians improvise a skit, after being presented with unique/goofy props or are presented with an interesting storyline. The results were often hilarious:
https://youtu.be/mN4paCZXy7M
Why Whose Line Is It Anyway? was, IMO, so entertaining, was how confident the participants were. They just-go-with-it > instantly responding to whatever situation they faced… no matter what it was. Part of this was natural ability, but I'll bet that each member has years of experience reacting to external forces, developing their instincts to the point where they're found to be funny/entertaining.
Instructors need to know how to improvise… to their class and playlist
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
In the series Hey Team > How Would You Answer This Question?, we had a bunch of great suggestions on how to connect music to your ride. I didn't share my ideas in the first two parts. I will be tomorrow and it will be geared toward practicing to improvise: adapting your cues, activities and intensity in response to what you're hearing… what the music is prompting you to do.
Depending on your relationship with your riders, you might get away with a running a fully improvisational class. Announce at the beginning that you plan to just-go-with-it and have fun. NOTE: if you're ever surprised to have a DJ show up and plan to control the music in your class > you'll be thankful for this training.
A better option may be to cue up today's free track and ride it by yourself. 40 minutes of constantly changing songs and mashups that will keep you on your toes as you improvise with each change. Give this a try and see where the music takes you. You might discover you have an undiscovered talent 🙂
Improv practice track Mashup Germany – Right Click, Save As
https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-1live-zeitreise-megamix-1995-2015
Go and have some fun![/wlm_private]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
by John | Apr 4, 2015 | Best Practices, Instructor Tips and Tricks, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, Master Instructor Blog
Will you be auditioning ?
Life Time Fitness is hiring! If you've always wanted to teach Indoor Cycling or Group Fitness, at one of their 100+ beautiful upper-end big box clubs, this is could be your big chance 🙂
They (LTF) are all about member experience. The equipment (awesome sound system/twin big-screens for video + FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycles with power) and their studios are fantastic. Their pay is respectable and you aren't forced to use music that's provided for you like at LA Fitness.
What should you do?
First, so you know, I know LTF 🙂 I'm lucky to live smack dab in the middle of four Life Time locations – with regularly scheduled Indoor Cycling classes with them since 2008.
#1 Read through these articles. We've helped dozens of Instructors get hired by Life Time
#2 Memorise the Life Time Fitness Mission Statement
Our Mission is to provide an Educational, Entertaining, Friendly and Inviting, Functional and Innovative experience of uncompromising quality that meets the health and fitness needs of the entire family.
Don't take knowing this mission statement lightly – it's not optional. YOU WILL BE ASKED TO RECITE IT AS PART OF ANY AUDITION.
#3 Go to your local club location and find the the sign that looks like the image at the top of this page. It will include information about the audition schedule, name of the Dept Head running the auditions, etc…
NOTE: Some locations might not have immediate openings, but I wouldn't let that stop you from attending and showing your stuff!
#4 I'm big on taking bold action, so I'd recommend finding a way to meet with the Group Fitness Dept Head, before the audition day, in person > if at all possible. You might ask the front desk if he/she is available right now.
If yes, then introduce yourself and expressing your enthusiasm for being part of her/his Instructor team. Ask an open ended question like; “what can I do to prepare for the audition?” and then listen. Now isn't the time to sell yourself… unless you are asked a specific question. Be respectful of their time and say so; “I know you're a very busy person, my objective to let you know who I am and that I'm very excited for the audition on ___________ and look forward to seeing you again then.
That's it, unless she/he appears to have more time for you. Be very careful not to ask anything beyond advice.
If no, ask when would be the best time to call and what number. They work crazy hours, so I'd call at different times until they answer – I wouldn't suggest leaving a message or emailing. Call until you get through. Tell them about your interest in teaching for them (again, NO SELLING) and then ask if you could meet them for two minutes to introduce yourself in person. Give two very specific days & times – DO NOT ASK; “what would be a good time to meet?” Busy people hate it when they're asked that… but they love when you give them a solid time that they can easily say yes/no to. Then follow the above.
These articles will guide you further.
No Certification?
No worries > they'll train you! Life Time realises that they need to develop/train people passionate about fitness, to become Instructors, through their Life Time Academy.
Group Fitness Instructor Training Overview
The Life Time Academy Professional Fitness Specialist program provides a unique educational experience of on-line, in classroom and hands-on learning, integrated with practical experiences that prepare graduates to succeed as a Professional Fitness Specialist in their respective area of emphasis.
The emphasis of the Group Fitness Instructor Program provides a quality educational experience that prepares graduates to succeed in the area of group fitness instruction, whether they are new to the industry or expanding their skills.
Topics covered in the Life Time Academy Group Fitness Instructor Training (GFIT) 50-hour program meet or exceed all the required standards set forth by the American Council on Exercise to achieve certification as well as the practical skills to lead a best-in-class group fitness experience.
With an 8-week curriculum, totaling 50 contact hours, the instructor-led coursework consists of approximately 30 hours of online study (reading, videos, activities, assignments and quizzes), 16 hours of in-club lab class time and 4 hours of practicum.
Curriculum includes:
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Exercise Science Foundations
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Essentials of Group Fitness
If you don't have a certification, I would ask the GFDH during your intro meeting for their advice for getting your training. LTF has multiple workshops throughout the year where you can receive the training you need.
Good luck and let me know when you're successfully on the schedule!
